Redirect traffic as a crisis management tool

BP oil spill – redirect traffic

In the wake of the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, BP has been getting a lot of negative press, has been the butt of many YouTube parodies and has been generally lambasted on Twitter, Facebook and the rest of the Web:

• Attacked on Facebook by a boycott movement called “Boycott BP,” urging a worldwide boycott of all BP brands and services
• An anonymously managed Twitter account – BP Public Relations (@BPGlobalPR) – that makes glib comments, purportedly on BP’s behalf

BP have been under heavy social media attack:

But now BP has purchased several phrases on search engines such as Google and Yahoo so that the first result that shows up directs information seekers to the company’s official website. Terms related to the spill, from “oil spill” to “gulf disaster” to “BP,” have consistently remained in the list of most-searched terms on Google since the spill began in April.

A simple Google search of “oil spill” turns up several thousand news results, but the first link, highlighted at the very top of the page, is from BP. “Latest news and facts about the Gulf of Mexico”, the link’s tagline reads.

From BP’s perspective it’s a brilliant move – directing traffic to their own site is a great PR strategy. But controlling what the public finds when they look online for oil spill information is just another way for the company to try and rebuild the company’s suffering public image.

Short URL & Title:
Redirect traffic as a crisis management tool — http://www.torbenrick.eu/t/r/ksz

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